It’s universally accepted that life begins at conception. To quote the American College of Pediatricians: “At fertilisation, the human being emerges as a whole, genetically distinct, individuated zygotic living human organism, a member of the species Homo sapiens, needing only the proper environment in order to grow and develop. The difference between the individual in Read more
Newly promoted minister Kiritapu Allan has said what a lot of people think but feel unable to say. She lashed out in a tweet against “tokenistic” use of te reo by employees of DOC “as an attempt to show govt depts are culturally competent”. She told Stuff she encouraged the use of the Maori language, Read more
On May 2, someone leaked the first draft of a US Supreme Court decision proposing that the historic ruling in the case Roe v Wade be reversed. Justice Samuel Alito’s draft decision, if adopted, would mean American women no longer had a constitutional right to abortion. The reaction was immediate and frenzied. The overwhelmingly left-liberal Read more
The so-called Safe Areas Bill will have its second reading in Parliament today. (Written on 15 February) It’s a brazen attack on freedom of speech and the right to protest, made more offensive by the fact that some of the MPs who support it cut their political teeth exercising that same right. The Bill, sponsored Read more
I had to go to Wellington last Tuesday afternoon. On the way home, rather than avoid the CBD and take the most direct route onto the Hutt motorway, I decided for no particular reason to go through town. I knew about the protest convoy that had rolled into town earlier that day but assumed it Read more
What began as a controversy over a judge’s decision to leave a young Maori girl in the care of her Pakeha foster-parents has touched off an extraordinary judicial scandal that threatens to shake public confidence in the integrity of the courts. Allegations made by lawyer Tony Ellis implicate New Zealand’s two most senior judges in Read more
Justice minister Andrew Little has announced details of the abortion bill to go before Parliament, and already it’s abundantly clear that we shouldn’t expect balanced media coverage. The tone was set in an opinion piece today in which Stuff political reporter Henry Cooke wrote that the government was finally moving after years of “shameful inaction”. Read more
Something’s not quite right here. The 21st-century buzzwords are diversity and inclusivity, but they seem to be applied very selectively. It seems we’re in favour of diversity and inclusivity if we’re talking about race, colour, gender and sexual identity, the latter two of which keep spinning off into ever-new permutations. But puzzlingly, we’re only partially Read more